Big San Jose mobile home park gains fresh start, dodges redevelopment

SAN JOSE — A huge mobile home park in San Jose has a new name to go along with a new operator and property manager in a deal that appears to ward off the redevelopment of the residential complex.

Effective Thursday, Silicon Valley Village Mobile Home Park is the new name of the community that previously was known as Westwinds Mobile Home Park. The park is located in North San Jose near Zanker Road.

“We hope that this will help us live here for the rest of our lives,” Phu Nguyen, 77, said in an interview with this news organization. “We love living here.” Nguyen resides with his wife in the mobile home park.

The land beneath the mobile home park is owned by the Nicholson Family Partnership, which for 150 years has owned the property now occupied by the residential complex.

An entity called MPLL LP has struck a deal to lease the land from the Nicholson Family and to take over the operation of the park. MPLL LP has taken over park operations from the prior holder of the land lease and park operator, MHC Operating Limited Partnership.

The principal executive of MPLL LP is Kenneth Miller, an Aptos-based real estate investor, according to business records on file with state officials. Miller also is the chief executive officer of Zoz Robotics.

MPLL has hired Evans Management Services to take over the day-to-day operations of the mobile home park.

“It’s important to us to forge relationships with our tenants, provide excellent service, and be closely involved in the daily operations of the property,” said Greg Evans, president of Evans Management Services.

The mobile home park has about 1,600 residents. The Nicholson Family says the operator and management changes mean residents don’t have to worry about being forced from their homes through a wide-ranging eviction.

“We look forward to working for the Silicon Valley Village residents,” Evans said.

The Nicholson Family has no interest in selling the land, according to Craig Nicholson, a principal executive of the group.

Mobile home parks are often considered choice targets for redevelopment in Silicon Valley. Yet the development of these kinds of properties also diminishes the pool of relatively affordable places to live in the notoriously expensive region.

Nguyen and his wife have lived in the mobile home park for 18 years, he said. He added that he hopes the new operations and management team stick to their word to keep the complex as a mobile home park.

“We have really fixed up our house and made it a great place to live,” Nguyen said Thursday. “I would like to be able to keep living here.”